Retirement planning

Beset by a graying workforce, an aging clientele and a shortage of young talent, the wealth management industry is at long last changing course.

Many investors hesitate to talk about money even though they're more concerned about their financial health than their physical health-here's how to get them talking.

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. public pension-fund assets grew by 4.2 percent in the last three months of 2013, boosted by stock market gains, the Census Bureau reported. Assets of the 100 largest public-worker retirement plans climbed to $3.19 trillion by the end of December, up $129.9 billion from September, the bureau said yesterday. The gains pushed holdings to the highest level since the government began tracking the data in 1968. …

As they prepare for retirement, senior advisors can help young planners become competent and confident financial advisors.

While headlines suggest that the Social Security system is running deficits, the truth is a bit more nuanced. For one thing, investment income is often ignored.

Firms in the self-serve channel that can "combine delivery mechanisms" will be a "smart bet" going forward," predicts Tiburon managing partner Chip Roame.

This Social Security strategy can be beneficial for married clients, but has a unique opportunity for singles, too. Make sure you understand the rules.

Low-deductible plans have thrived under Obamacare -- offering new tax strategies for both clients and advisors.

As more people live into their 100s -- and as families in which four or five generations overlap become commonplace -- some core elements of financial planning need to change, says one longevity specialist.

A sharply increasing number of plan sponsors want financial advisor guidance -- but many of the RIAs on Fidelity's platform are just dabbling in the area, the custodian says.

Though the cost to the system of "file and suspend" and "claim now, claim more later" filing strategies is modest, Congress will eventually be forced to look for ways to align future balance sheets as the Social Security trust fund gets spent down.

Retiree optimism is an encouraging improvement and most likely correlates to a stronger stock market and the prospect of higher interest rates in the future, says Wells Fargo executive.

Expected in August, the Labor Department's new draft of a fiduciary proposal for retirement-plan advisors involves taking a more "clear, direct and nuanced" approach to the education vs. advising question, says Assistant Secretary of Labor Phyllis Borzi.

After variable annuity sales plunged in 2012, expectations are high for the coming years for new players and higher sales.

People underestimate the chances of dying from likely causes, like heart failure, while overestimating the chances of dying from an unlikely cause, like murder. This can cause big mistakes in retirement planning.

Deciding when to claim Social Security is one of the biggest financial decisions your clients will ever make and you need to be able to frame the discussion properly in order to help.

New skills and new training are necessary for advisors to succeed in today's market, but banks and broker-dealers have not made it a top priority.

After watching people struggle to afford a nice retirement hone, Annette Martin decided to pursue a second career to help.

As the deluge of boomer retirees begins, many have relegated Social Security to a marginal role in retirement planning. That's a major mistake.